A network device may potentially have hundreds of independent, physical point-to-point connections linking it to other network devices. The sheer number of physical links makes it very difficult for an on-site network administrator to quickly identify which specific interface of the network device connects to a particular peer network device. For example, if an on-site network administrator is performing maintenance and identifies an interface on network device A and wishes to trace the connected cable to an interface on network device B, it may be difficult to follow the path of the cable due to wire routing and bundling. This is particularly true with regard to the “last leg” connection problem (i.e., identifying the last portion of the Ethernet connection on the way to a physical desktop device). Access layer switches often connect, via in-wall building structural wiring, to a cubicle patch-panel where the desktop device is plugged in. Thus, if the network administrator needs to identify the switch port to which the desktop device is connected, it may be impossible to visually trace the cable, and it may also be difficult to isolate the switch port with tone probes.
In addition, remotely-located network engineers commonly work on network problems with customers by remotely accessing a network device's command line interface (i.e., via a remote screen-sharing session, for example). If the support engineers suspect that the customer's network problem might stem from a physical cabling issue, the support engineers can only ask their end customer to verify that the cable is plugged into the correct device, and the support engineers have no way to verify that the task was completed correctly. Unfortunately, in some cases, the customer may not be able to physically follow the cable to the peer device, due to the wire routing or cable bundling for example, to verify that it is plugged into the correct port. This makes troubleshooting more difficult for both the customer and the remotely-located network support engineers.
Further, identifying the correlation between the software configuration's designation of a physical interface (e.g., interface Ethernet4/30) and how that maps to the actual physical location of the interface on the network device can be challenging. For example, it may be challenging or impossible for an on-site network administrator to collaborate with a remotely-located administrator to determine which cable to unplug or plug-in when the physical interface number is not clearly marked on the chassis or line card or when the placement of the interface makes determining the actual interface slot number and port number ambiguous. Accordingly, a solution is needed to more easily identify the cable port endpoints between connected network devices.